Optoelectronic Device Inspection and Test Station

尽管半导体制造在美国工业中具有战略性作用，但与光电器件相关的课程教学在本科课程中并不受欢迎。这些课程往往显得过于理论和抽象，或者过于注重技能，学生只接受职业培训。大多数实验室课程充其量只是重申一些理论概念，但主要是测试而不是制造设备。这种情况对于非传统的学生来说尤其麻烦，包括那些在社区大学和职业生涯中期的学生，或者打算更新技能的有经验的工人。对于这两个群体来说，这些课程似乎是理论性的，与制造过程几乎没有关系。 为了满足这些需求，已经开发了一门课程，它有两个独特的主要特点：它提出了一种综合的方法来教学的光电器件，使学生设计，制造和测试他们选择的设备，它使非同质的学生群体组成的非传统，副学士学位，本科生和研究生团队负责设计和制造的各个方面。 本课程中的场景是工作场所中并行工程的复制品。将团队凝聚在一起的是产品和设备，而将他们分开的是他们的职责和背景。 在微加工洁净室设施中，向学生提供制造器件所需的所有设备和用品。通过这个项目，该部门正在获得设备，用于测试学生制造的设备。这些仪器使学生能够探测和测试他们的产品的电子和光学响应。

Despite the strategic role of semiconductor manufacturing in American industry, teaching of courses related to optoelectronic devices is not popular in undergraduate curricula. These courses often appear either too theoretical and abstract or too skill oriented, with students receiving only vocational training. Most laboratory courses at best reiterate some theoretical concepts, but mostly test rather than fabricate devices. This scenario is particularly troublesome for nontraditional students, including those in community colleges and midcareer or experienced workers intending to update their skills. For both groups, these courses appear theoretical, with little relevance to the manufacturing process. In response to these needs, a course has been developed that has two unique major features: it proposes an integrated approach to the teaching of optoelectronic devices whereby students design, fabricate, and test a device of their choice and it enables nonhomogeneous groups of students consisting of nontraditional, associate degree, undergraduate, and graduate students to work in teams responsible for all aspects of design and fabrication. The scenario played out in this course is a replica of concurrent engineering in the work place. What holds the team together is the product, the device, and what separates them is their responsibilities and backgrounds. All the equipment and supplies necessary for the fabrication of the devices are provided to the students in the microfabrication clean-room facility. Through this project, the department is acquiring equipment for testing the devices that students fabricate. These instruments enable the students to probe and test the electronic and optical response of their products.